Breaking on Friday afternoon was word that Intel is shutting down its Clear Linux project effective immediately after ten years of maintaining this high performance Linux distribution that relentlessly optimized for the best Linux x86_64 performance — even when it benefited AMD x86_64 processors too. Here is a look back at the most popular of our Clear Linux testing over its decade in existence as a high performance Intel Linux OS.
Over the weekend I began working on some final Clear Linux distributions for showing how its now end-of-life performance compares to other modern Linux distributions. Those numbers will be out in the coming days for a final look at the Clear Linux performance and its advantages for Linux x86_64 out-of-the-box performance. This article is just a recap of the most popular Clear Linux tests and news from over the years to reminisce over the great software innovations that Intel engineers drove into this open-source project.
The most popular benchmarks/featured articles featuring Clear Linux included:
Benchmarks: FreeBSD 13 vs. NetBSD 9.2 vs. OpenBSD 7 vs. DragonFlyBSD 6 vs. Linux
It’s been a while since last having a hearty BSD benchmark comparison on Phoronix in part due to the latest hardware platforms generally lagging behind with how well supported they are by the various BSDs. But stemming from a Phoronix Premium supporter recently requesting some fresh BSD benchmarks, here is a look at how DragonFlyBSD 6.0.1, FreeBSD 13.0, NetBSD 9.2, and OpenBSD 7.0 are competing against various Linux distributions like CentOS, Clear Linux, and Ubuntu.
Intel Continues To Show AMD The Importance Of Software Optimizations: 16% More Ryzen 9 9950X Performance
As part of my ongoing AMD Ryzen 9 9950X Linux testing, last week I provided a look at the AVX-512 benefits to Zen 5 and also the Windows vs. Linux performance for the Ryzen 9 9950X. For sharing today is a look at multiple Linux distributions up and running on the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (Zen 5) desktop. Among the distributions in the mix are Intel’s Clear Linux distribution that is optimally tuned for maximum x86_64 Linux performance and once again even on AMD hardware shows the significant benefits to a well-tuned Linux software stack.
Intel’s Clear Linux Outpacing Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Fedora 36 & Other H1’2022 Distros
Given the recent releases of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Fedora 36 among other recent OS updates, it’s time for a fresh look at how various Linux distributions are performing. This Linux benchmarking bout is looking at the Xeon Platinum 8380 2P “Ice Lake” performance across Arch Linux, Debian, openSUSE, CentOS Stream, AlmaLinux, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Intel’s Clear Linux.
15-Way Linux OS Comparison Shows Mixed High-Performing Linux Distributions
Succeeding January’s 10-way Linux distribution battle is now a 15-way Linux distribution comparison on an Intel Xeon “Skylake” system with Radeon R7 graphics. Distributions part of this Linux OS performance showdown include Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, OpenSUSE, Antergos, Sabayon, Void Linux, Zenwalk, KaOS, Clear Linux, and Alpine Linux.
Windows 10 Outperforming Linux On A ~$5000 Laptop, Ubuntu Beating Clear Linux
We are used to seeing tier-one Linux distributions outperforming Microsoft Windows on hardware ranging from $199 laptops to HEDT and server processors and everything in between. Thus it came as a large surprise to us when finding Windows 10 outperforming multiple Linux distributions on a new Intel laptop. Not only was Windows 10 leading, but the performance paradigm shifted that Ubuntu was even outperforming Clear Linux, which normally is the fastest of Linux distributions out-of-the-box.
Even With A $199 Laptop, Clear Linux Can Offer Superior Performance To Fedora Or Ubuntu
The latest in our benchmarking fun with the $199+ Motile M141 laptop is seeing how well Intel’s Clear Linux performs on it in relation to Ubuntu and Fedora.
Windows 10 vs. Ubuntu 19.10 vs. Clear Linux Performance On The Dell Ice Lake Laptop
Last month I posted benchmarks looking at the Windows 10 vs. Linux OpenGL and Vulkan graphics performance for the Ice Lake “Gen11” graphics. But for those wondering about the CPU/system performance between Windows and Linux for the Core i7-1065G7 with the Dell XPS 7390, here are those benchmarks as we compare the latest Windows 10 to Ubuntu 19.10 and Intel’s own Clear Linux platform.
macOS 12.1 vs. Ubuntu vs. Clear Linux vs. Windows Benchmarks
Recently I looked at the macOS 12 performance against Linux when it comes to the Intel-based Macs. Stemming from reader requests and curiosity how Windows would perform in the mix, here are such benchmark results with macOS 12.1, Windows 10, Clear Linux, and Ubuntu 21.10.
The Performance Of Clear Linux vs. Fedora vs. Ubuntu Over 2020
Earlier this week we looked at the performance of Intel’s Clear Linux over the past year but how does that compare to the likes of say Fedora and Ubuntu? This article is looking at the performance of Fedora Workstation, Ubuntu, and Clear Linux on the same hardware over the past year.
Making The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X Run Even Faster – By Loading Up Intel’s Clear Linux
One of the interesting takeaways from my pre-launch briefing with AMD on the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X was AMD representatives actually recommending Clear Linux for use on this 64-core / 128-thread HEDT processor and the platform to which they’ve found the best performance. Yet, Clear Linux is an Intel open-source project. In any case, here are benchmarks of how Clear Linux performs against other Linux distributions on the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X within the System76 Thelio Major. And, holy crap, with the Threadripper 3990X on Clear Linux I managed to build the x86_64 default Linux kernel in under 20 seconds!
And the most popular (most viewed) Clear Linux news from over the years on Phoronix:
Intel Announces It’s Shutting Down Clear Linux
The most depressing news of the week: Intel is ending their performance-optimized Clear Linux distribution. Over the past decade the Clear Linux operating system has shown what’s possible with out-of-the-box performance on x86_64 hardware… Not just for Intel platforms but even showing extremely great performance results on AMD x86_64 too. But with the cost-cutting going on at Intel, Clear Linux is now being sunset.
100+ Benchmarks Between Clear Linux vs. Arch-Based Manjaro Linux – Summer 2019 Tests
For those wondering how Intel’s performance-optimized Clear Linux is comparing to the Arch-based Manjaro Linux distribution, here are a number of benchmarks on the same Intel Core i7 8700K in seeing how these rolling-release distros are competing for summer 2019.
Is Clear Linux Just A Toy Distribution By Intel?
A user experimenting with Clear Linux had an opinion to share on their mailing list and referred to it as a “toy” distribution and some of our readers have expressed similar opinions on it. Here is the response by one of the Intel developers central to Clear Linux’s development.
How Intel’s Clear Linux Team Cut The Kernel Boot Time From 3 Seconds To 300 ms
Intel engineer Feng Tang spoke at this week’s Linux Plumbers Conference in Lisbon, Portugal on how the Clear Linux team managed to boot their kernel faster. They started out with around a three second kernel boot time but cut it down to just 300 ms.
Here’s How To Setup Clear Linux For Intel Steam Linux Gaming
A few weeks back we learned of Intel’s Clear Linux distribution working towards Steam support. While Clear Linux is a performance-oriented workstation/server/cloud distribution, repeatedly in our tests it performs among the top Linux distributions even when it comes to Intel OpenGL Linux gaming, so being able to game with it isn’t a far stretch with Steam support — there is also Vulkan support now too.
Benchmarking The Python Optimizations Of Clear Linux Against Ubuntu, Intel Python
Stemming from Clear Linux detailing how they optimize Python’s performance using various techniques, there’s been reader interest in seeing just how their Python build stacks up. Here’s a look at the Clear Linux Python performance compared to a few other configurations as well as Ubuntu Linux.
Clear Linux Will Now Handle Up To 512 CPU Cores / vCPUs
Following yesterday’s article looking at the performance of Intel’s Clear Linux running on AMD EPYC 4th Gen “Genoa” with great performance results even though Clear’s kernel was limited to 320 of the 384 available logical CPU cores for the EPYC 9654 2P setup, the kernel has now been adjusted to handle up to 512 CPUs.
Chrome, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, VSCode Now Unofficially Available For Clear Linux
One of the common criticisms for those trying to use Clear Linux on the desktop is that it lacks easy access to proprietary packages like Google Chrome and Steam. There has been plumbing within its swupd package/bundle management system to support third-party repositories to expand the ecosystem and now we’re finally seeing that happen.
Intel’s Clear Linux Is Working On Steam Support
For those planning to do Linux gaming with Intel graphics hardware, you might soon have a new choice with the performance-oriented Clear Linux distribution out of Intel’s Open-Source Technology Center.
Intel’s Clear Linux Taps -O3 For Its Kernel Builds
While Intel’s performance-optimized Clear Linux rolling-release distribution is known for its aggressive performance optimizations, their kernel build had been going with the default “-O2” optimization but last week did switch over to rolling their kernel with -O3.
Intel’s Clear Linux Has Code In Place To Begin Handling Proprietary Packages Like Chrome & Steam
One of the most frequent critiques of Intel’s Clear Linux distribution has been its lackluster support in dealing with proprietary/third-party packages like the Google Chrome web browser and Valve’s Steam gaming client. Since last summer, Clear Linux has been working on their third-party packaging support with their unique “bundles” system, but not much has been heard on the matter since.
Benchmarks Of Clear Linux’s Native Kernel Against Current/Mainline/Preempt-RT Kernels
Given the recent discussions over the default performance of the Linux scheduler, the Liquorix patches to the Linux kernel, and other recent forum discussions over different kernel configurations and flavors, here are some reference benchmarks looking at the performance of some of the kernel options available to Clear Linux users.
Using Distrobox To Augment The Package Selection On Clear Linux, Other Distributions
While our testing has consistently shown how Clear Linux can deliver leading performance on Intel/AMD x86_64 platforms, one of the user criticisms to that distribution has been around the limited selection of packaged software especially on the desktop side. But the rather interesting Distrobox can help address that by leveraging Podman or Docker to run other Linux distribution user-space software packages atop.
F2FS Root File-System Support For Clear Linux Appears To Be Coming
Clear Linux looks poised to join the ranks of the few Linux distributions allowing it to run off an F2FS root file-system.
The Speed Of Ubuntu 16.10 Currently Versus Ubuntu 16.04, Clear Linux
Being mid-way through Ubuntu 16.10’s development cycle, here are some fresh benchmarks showing how its performance has changed (if at all) compared to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as well as compared to Intel’s high-performance Clear Linux distribution as a reference point.
Clear Linux vs. Ubuntu On An Intel Pentium CPU
When we are usually running our cross-distribution/OS Linux comparisons, we are generally using Intel Xeon or Core i5/i7 CPUs and whatever else is the latest and greatest hardware, since that’s what excites us the most. But a Phoronix Premium member recently inquired whether Intel’s performance-oriented Clear Linux distribution would also be of benefit on lower-end hardware. So for some benchmarking fun this weekend, here are some Ubuntu 16.10 vs. Clear Linux results on an older Pentium system.
Intel’s Clear Linux To Divest From The Desktop, Focus On Server + Cloud Workloads
Intel’s performance-optimized Clear Linux has made some inroads in the desktop space over the past two years with providing a nice desktop installer last year, enhancing their documentation, and making available more desktop packages. Clear Linux has offered some of the fastest performance even for desktop workloads like web browser performance and has worked out equally well on AMD hardware. But moving forward they are going to be shifting back to their roots on focusing on server and cloud workloads.
Clear Linux Preparing To Move To GNOME 3.36, Dropping Their Desktop Customizations
With the somewhat surprising announcement this week that Intel’s Clear Linux platform would be divesting from the desktop and focusing on server and cloud workloads, the first visible changes on the desktop side are expected next week.
A Look At Intel’s Clear Linux Performance Over The Course Of July
Over the course of July, Intel’s rolling-release Clear Linux distribution shifted from Linux 5.1 to the brand new Linux 5.2 kernel, pulled in the latest GCC9 branch compiler fixes, updated to Python 3.7.4, rolled out a new OpenJDK build, and had many other package updates and original optimizations applied.
Clear Linux Container Performance Continues Showing Sizable Gains
For those interested in using Distrobox to augment your operating system’s package selection, not all containers are created equally. Distrobox developer Luca Di Maio recently did some tests for looking at the Linux container performance.
